Our Demons
by GothicLlama
Summary: Fantastic Beasts and where to find them: Anarie's life was quite stable until over a year ago, and just when everything was going back to normal, she met a man who changed her life again. CredencexOC fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: Hello there. This is my _first fanfic_ so please bear with me. English is not my mother tongue, so if you find anything wrong gramatically, please message me. **

**Iwill appreciate _any_ kind of review. And the lasi thing - enjoy the reading!**

 _words in italic -_ thoughts

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 _ **"One of those days"**_

Do you sometimes feel the urge to do something or go somewhere that doesn't necessarily make sense? Maybe you suddenly thought of going to the library at 6 o'clock on Monday. And while going there you decided to turn left to the first alley and not the second, like you would usually do? Perhaps at 5:46, on that one particular Monday morning, half way through the first alley, you ran into someone and immediatelly thought "that's the one" and fell in love at first sight?

Was it fate? Was the Universe telling you something important? Or maybe was it some divine force making you go and meet your destiny? We will never know the answer. The only thing we can do is to take what we are given. Whether it's good or bad is up to us to decide.

Well, today was one of those days for me.

I woke up earlier than usually. It was 7:20... I shifted to the other side of the bed hoping to get some more sleep, but it wouldn't come. Sighing, I got up, changed into a very comfortable prussian blue dress and went to the kitchen to eat something.

"Anarie? What are you doing so early in the morning? You usually sleep till 8." said soft voice behind me.

I turned around and saw my cousin, Nora, standing in the entrance to her bedroom, which was right next to mine. Although we were realted, we didn't look alike.

Nora was tall and pretty with beautifull short black hair and bright, green eyes. She was always polite and smiled a lot. People liked her. There was something in her - like some kind of posivtive vibe radiating around her. As for me, I felt like a chameleon. Most of the time people didn't notice me, even if I was standing next to them or participated in the conversation. They always seemed to forget I was there. Even my appereance was plain. My heirht was average, my face was constantly considered as 'sad' although most of the time I felt indifferent to everything around me. The only thing that was not plain about me was my hair. Because of my hate to any fashion rules I let my hair grow out to my waistline, so now it was coming down in soft dark-brown waves. I would never let anyone cut my hair - I'd feel naked without it.

"I don't know. I guess I couldn't sleep." I gave her a half-smile. "Want me to make you breakfast?"

"Yes please! But make it edible, not like last time." she laughed.

"Ha, ha. Very funny." I grunted. "Now go change, or I'll eat by myself."

"Fine! I'm going!" with that she dissapeared into her room, leaving me alone in our not so large, but very comfy kitchen (which was a dining room at the same time).

Just as I said, I ate alone. Nora came to the kitchen just when I was standing up to clean the table. Her fancy lavender dress fitted her perfectly. She gave me the _you-should-have-waited_ look and started eating.

"It's not that bad." she said surprised.

"Why, thank you, The Greatest Gourmet of All Time." I joked with an evil smile spreading across my face. "Oh and by the way, shouldn't you go home? I mean you got married like a month ago and you still come here for a sleepover" I asked.

"I didn't want to leave my little cousin alone." she responded sweetly.

"Well then please stop. I'm perfectly fine living alone. Plus, your husband's gonna hate me if you stay here longer. Just eat your breakfast and get out."

She snorted, but didn't say anything and continued eating in pleasingly sulking silence. Nora was very protective over me and tended to overreact sometimes if she felt that there was something wrong with me. She had a loving husband, who I worked with. Very convinient, eh? Maybe her staying with me sometimes was sweet, but come on, I could take care of myself!

I would have probably started reading some book to kill time, but I suddenly felt the desire to go outside for a long walk to work. With this in mind I put my shoes on and wrapped myself in my favourite black coat. Just as I was about to grab the handle, Nora said:

"You want to go to work **without** your wand?"

I stopped in my actions. Right, my wand. I knew I forgot something. Looking anywhere but on Nora I ran to my room and put my wand inside a hidden pocket in the coat. With a quick "goodbye" I ran out of the appartament into the busy streets of New York.

Like always when I went outside, my whole body shivered a little being bombarded by everything around me. The smell of tobacco, perfumes, horses, food and rotting trash. The sounds of footsteps on the pathwalk, people talking, screaming or snoring in their beds, horses neighing under their riders and cars beeping every now and then. My hightened senses were almost screaming from all the information they were recirving. I took a deep breath trying to calm dawn. Focusing on one thing at a time always seemed to help, so I chose to listen to my footsteps.

I guess I didn't mention it before, but I'm not an ordinary human. I'm a witch _and_ a werewolf. Or a lycantrope, to be more precise. I was attacked by a werewolf pack over a year ago. Being a lycantrope in a world full of discrimination torwards fantastic creatures was tough, but I got used to it pretty quick. The only ones I told about me being a werewolf were my parents and Nora. They were shocked at first, but accepted me either way. That's why I loved them so much. They tried to accept anyone and focus on their good sides. Seeing that my family was full of such kind and loving people made me very happy.

Walking in New York was an interesting experience. You could see every kind of people any direction you looked at. I had a habit of creating their history. Maybe this man on the other side of the street was buying flowers for his wife? Or maybe for his lover who he met in a cafe next door?

As I was walking slowly through the street I tried to suppress all feelings reaching me. Another treat of being a werewolf - I could sense people's feelings or emotions. Sometimes I called myself a wolfy empath. What a joke, right?

Suddenly a massive amount of sadness moxed with sorrow hit me. I stopped, surprised of the amount of negative emotions. Somebody was hurting really bad, probably for many years now. Involuntarily my legs started to move. I had to see this person. The closer I got, the bigger sorrow I felt. It was hurting my heart to know someone was so alone. I could hear someone falling on the ground and a quiet "ouch".

"Watch where you walk!" was the response.

When I finally reached my destination, I gasped in awe. There was a boy (or maybe even a man, he looked like he was in his early 20's) sitting on the ground, surrounded by a large amount of pamphlets. His raven bowl-cut hair contrasted with his pale skin. He had very neat black suit with thin tie of the same colour. The outfit and haircut made him look pedantic, sterile even. Although I was standing about 20 metres away, I could see little red cuts on his palms. They seemed to be fresh, very fresh. I could hear his tissues multiplying to close the wounds.

My mind was blank. My mouth was dry. Everything around me became faded, the only one clearly visible was that man. I was dumbfounded, because it was the first time for me to feel like that. I didn't know what to do with this new experience. With thumping heart and shaking legs, I quickly walked to him to help with the pamphlets. There was something about witches and how they are a threat to human race. Right, people like that still existed. We worked in silence. Once we were done, I stood up and helped him do the same. His hand was cold.

I felt that he was hurting, mentally and physically. If my werewolf senses were correct, he was being beaten. Judging by his difficulty straightening his back (apart from it being part of his enormous shyness and fear) I assuned he had some kind of injury there. Oh, what a poor soul!

"I know it is not my business, but you should treat those wounds on your back." I said while giving him the pamphlets " You don't want to get an infection, right?"

He looked at me with wonder, his brows furrowed. "I don-"

"Just clean it once a day with a wet towel." I interrupted him. I know I was blabbering, but I wanted to talk with this broken man for a little longer, to get to know in even just a bit. I hoped my spontanious help for him would brighten his day a little. "My name's Anarie by the way. What's yours?"

He didn't say anything at first, but after a moment of silence he responded: "Credence"

I gave him the brightest of smiles.

"Nice to meet you Credence."

Yeah, that was deffinitelly one of those days.


	2. Chapter 2 True Magic

**AN: Hello my dear readers! I'm soo happy you guys liked the first chapter, so I'm giving you the second one. I hope you'll like it.**

 **I have the general idea of where I want this fanfic go, but I'll gladly enjoy your ideas for this story (if you have some, please send me a message or include it in your review). Um... I already have half of the third chapter, but I have some problems with it... Eh... Nevermind. I guess (if it all goes well) I'll post it sometime around Monday or Tuesday. Oh, and by the way, this chapter is a little bit longer than the previous one, so HELL YEAH! I'm getting petter at this! At least I hope I do...**

 **Okay, one last thing: enjoy the chapter! :)**

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 _ **Chapter 2 - "True magic"**_

I desparatelly tried to think of something, anything to make him stay little longer with me. I just met this man, but had no intention of letting go.

"I really think you should get those wounds checked. I could do that for you, my apartment is nearby." I said pleadingly, hoping he would agree. But instead he backed away a little, looking like a trapped dog. Merlin's beard! He probably thought I was some crazy lady luring young men into her house! (skipping the fact that I was possibly a year or two younger than him, but still!)

He cleared his throat. "I think I should go now. I have work to do." he mumbled, hardening his grip on the pamphlets at the same time.

"Let's make a deal, then." I suggested.

"What?"

"If you come with me and let me treat your wounds, I will take the rest of those pamphlets and um... give them out to my coworkers. How about that?"

He was thinking hard about it, obviously torn between his duty and the perspective of relief.

"Come on, have some faith in me. I am a good healer and I promise to hand out your brochures. Please?" I looked at him pleadingly. _Please, please agree._

"Um... okay." he whispered while giving me the pamphlets.

"Thank you. Now come with me."

We walked in silence. Credence's movements were incredibly quiet, making me look to the left every now and then to check if he was still there. There was about 5 minutes left until we reached my flat, so I had time to immerse myself in his scenth. I know it sounds weird, but it's a wolf thing. After taking few deep breaths I could tell a lot, I mean A LOT about this man. I knew what he had for breakfast, where he went yesterday, what kind of soap he used and all trivial things about his daily life, but that was just a rough outline of his smell. There was something completely different that picked my interest.

He didn't smell like a normal No-Maj. Actually, he smelled anything but that. There was a faint squib feeling to it. Most wizards would probably assume he was a squib, but my werewolf senses were thankfully much stronger than those of a normal mage (or even very powerfull one). I smelled him, imperceptibly of course, once more. Yeah, there was more in him than a squib. Maybe one of his parents was one? I also didn't sense any kind of wand in his possesion, what I would normally know right away.

But if he wasn't a No-Maj, nor a squib and he didn't seem to have a wand, then what was he?

What an interesting man indeed.

"Okay, we're here." I opened my apartment door and guided him inside.

Thankfully Nora has already left. I have no idea what I would've done if she decided to stay. I could hear Credence hanging his coat on the hanger beside the door, while my own coat landed on the floor.

"Please sit here and wait while I go for wet towel and the medicine." I offered while pointing at the kitchen door. He just nodded.

Is it just me or every time when I need something it is nowhere to be found? I quickly ran through every shelf in my restroom and, after what seemed like hours, I found two fresh towels. At least I knew where I put my ointment. I guess I could heal him with one simple _Episkey_ spell, but I had the feeling that Credence might got scared with me just drawing wand out. He looked so fragile and scared all the time, like he expected to be hit any moment. After getting the ointment I headed into kitchen, where my guest was waiting for me.

Credence stood in the middle of the room, looking around shyly. He was adjusting his hair with nervousness. I couldn't help but smile. It was like watching a child on its first day of school. I shook my head in attepmt to focus on the task.

"Could you sit on the stool here?" I pointed at the one standing near the kitchen sink. He did what I told him, although hesitant. He looked anywhere but me, presumably scared of this "healing" I talked about.

"Would you mind taking your shirt off? I can't heal you without looking at your wounds." was my voice always this shaky? I tried hard not to blush too much, so I focused on wetting the towels.

Credence didn't move. He was scared of another humans touch, that I could see. But he also seemed to want it. Really bad. He might have never experienced the warmth of a hug. Either that or the last time he was touched with any amount of care was so long ago that he completely forgot how it felt. Damn, I was getting attached to him more and more with every passing second.

"I'm not going to hurt you Credence. I'm here to help." with a hope of giving him more confidence, I put my hand on his shoulder. He shivered, but didn't back away. I took it as a positive sign. He then looked at me with pink-ish cheeks and mouth slightly open, like he was about to say something. I understood it instantly.

"Right, I'll turn around. Sorry." I blushed.

Just then, with Credence unbuttoning his vest and shirt soon after that, I realized the situation I was in. Thre was a young, half naked man in my house. A very handsome young man, even with his shyness and that weirdly cute hairdo. And I was about to touch that man in just few seconds.

I. Was. Fucked.

As I was desperatelly trying to cool down, Credence declared that he was done.

 _"You can do this Anarie. Just don't screw this up."_ I told myself.

At least not only I felt embarrased. Credence's cheeks were getting redder and redder by the minute. He cowered in himself, trying to appear smaller with eyes locked on the ground. His whole body gave out the impression of a beaten dog, desperatelly looking for a place to hide.

I cautiously walked behind him and slowly sat on the ground. There was dried blood on his wounds. Not much, but it was still present. I could see faint scars from his previous injuries. Who could have done such a horrible thing to him?! Anger boiled within me. I decided to find whoever did that and kick their ass.

"It won't hurt, so don't worry. It'll feel warm, though." I assured him and saw him relax a little. One thing I was actually good at was reading people and calming them down. In one of my psychology books (yeah, I was a werewolf witch, who liked psychology, so what?) there was said that stressed or scared people tend to relax when listening to someones calm voice. It was worth a try. "Focus on my voice, okay?" I ordered him.

A quick nod was my answer.

"Okay then. I'll start now." I waited a moment and then started cleaning the blood with a towel. "I see you are not very talkative. I'm normally quiet too, so I guess that makes us alike a litte. Um, do you want to know how I learned to heal people? Well, I'll tell you anyway. About a year ago, while travelling across America, I was attacked by um... by a pack of wolves. I nearly died then. I even got the scars as a reminder..." I put away the towel and reached for the ointment. When my fingers touched his wounds, Credence sighed in relief. Smearing his scars, new and old ones, felt oddly satisfying. "That accident changed me. You could even say I was cursed that day... After about three days of lying in the forest, some old woman found me and took me in. She said it was a miracle I even managed to survive those three days. You see, she was a healer in a small village nearby. So she taught me all she knew about herbs, healing and making ointments just like this one. Even though she did her best with healing my wounds, I could feel the pain sometimes." I walked in front of Credence to treat his palms. His hands were shaking a little. "I couldn't tell this to anyone but my parents and cousin. In my line of work you can't be different. No exceptions allowed. That's why I have to hide my scars and pretend they don't exist - that _I_ don't exist." I locked my eyes with him and felt a sad smile forming on my face. I knew he understood me completely.

"I'm done here, but you should wait a moment for it to dry." I said while standing up.

After cleaning up the floor I told Credence he could take his shirt on. Again I turned around to give him at least little privacy.

"Do you believe in magic Credence?" I asked suddenly, looking back at him with seriousness. I have no idea where this question came from.

"Um... I'm not supposed to." he looked at me with furrowed brows.

"I don't. At least not in the one everyone else think of. I don't believe those spells or flashy tricks are true magic. After that old woman took care of me, I saw it. For me the true magic is human kindness. Kindness and love. Those two can change people for better and make them do miracles. That is how I feel."

We headed to the front door. Credence was putting his coat on while I was shoving pamphlets carefully into my hidden pocket. He grabbed my coat from the ground and I took it.

"Tell me Credence, do you feel the magic now?" I asked him with sparkling eyes.

"Yeah, I think I do now."

His answer surprised me. Not the fact that he admitted to believe in magic of human kindness, no. What surprised me was the look on his face.

There was a faint hint of a smile.


End file.
